So I was in a board-game shop yesterday and I ask the clerk:
"Do you have
Boggle or
Operation?"
The fifty-something store manager looked at me like I had just peed in his store.
"Excuse me?"
"Boggle. Operation. The board games."
"How do you spell that?"
"B-o-g-g-l-e. O-p-e-r-a-t-i-o-n."
"Operation? Are you a nurse?"
"No."
"Miss, all these game names are in your head."
This is not what you say to clients, at least not to their faces. Plus, this guy sells board games. I mean, Operation and Boggle are not exactly obscure items in the board-game market.
"Um, no sir, I'm pretty sure Boggle and Operation are actual games."
Visibly annoyed, he scrached his head and nodded in disagreement.
"Okay. Give me a minute, he said, I will check my binder."
I thought he said computer, but he actually fished out a crabby-looking binder and told me it would only take seconds, as everything in there was alphabetical. Well whooey, I feel so much better now. There is order in the binder.
"No, these games do not exist ma'am."
As if I had only dreamed about the existence of Operation and Boggle. I chose not to make a big deal out of it, as it would only make my existence worse to try to explain what these games are about and how popular they are and how much of a dick he was. But I thought he at least deserved to end up on a blog.
I rest my handbag.
